Vancouver Canucks players congratulate left wing Loui Eriksson (21) after his goal against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period Saturday's game in Denver.

It wasn't quite a must-win, but it was close for the Canucks, who take two out of three games on the road with Saturday's victory

DENVER — Colorado’s legalization of marijuana has added new meaning to the Mile High City, but nobody felt higher Saturday night than the Vancouver Canucks.

They surrendered two leads before beating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout to get two wins from a three-game road trip against struggling teams. They needed to win all three, but coming home with only one win would have been devastating.

After surrendering 1-0 and 2-1 leads, the Canucks beat the Avalanche on Markus Granlund’s goal in the first round of the shootout. Canuck goalie Jacob Markstrom finished the game with 33 saves.

A laser-guided 50-foot wrist shot by Colorado’s Jarome Iginla tied the game 2-2 just 3 ½ minutes after Alex Burrows had given Vancouver the lead at 1:26 of the third period.

Near the end of the game’s first power play, Canuck Loui Eriksson took a pass from Markus Granlund, froze Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard by showing pass with Horvat skating in on the 2-on-1, and roofed a short-side wrist shot under the bar at 3:46. It was Eriksson’s third goal in four games but the power play’s first on the three-game trip.

Horvat nearly made it 2-0 with two minutes left in the period when his attempted pass on another 2-on-1 hit an Avalanche defenceman and caught Pickard moving the wrong way. The netminder, however, stretched back with his left pad to make a sensational save on the goal-line, then jammed his skate against the post as Horvat and Burrows whacked at the puck.

The Canucks finished the period without defenceman Alex Edler, who was injured blocking Carl Soderberg’s shot. The puck appeared to strike Edler on the wrist or hand.

Markstrom, second all-time in league history for number of starts by a goalie without an NHL shutout, fell to 0-for-84 when the Avalanche tied it 1-1 at 11:15 of the second period. Markstrom got turned sideways making a goalmouth save after Soderberg got a step on Hutton. Colorado’s Mikhail Grigorenko prodded the puck out of mid-air and into the unguarded net.

Colorado Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard watches the puck as Avalanche defenseman Fedor Tyutin defends against Vancouver Canucks right wing Alexandre Burrows during the second period of Saturday’s game in Denver.AP

WHAT IT MEANS

Say what you like about Edler’s lack of production this season and his exasperating inability to get his shot through on the power play, but Philip Larsen for Alex Edler is a big downgrade if the Canucks’ top defenceman is out of the lineup for a significant length of time. Or any length of time.

Larsen, who was bumped from the lineup by rookie Troy Stecher nine games ago, has been waiting for another chance to play. He can’t possibly be less effective than Edler on the power play, but is a liability in the defensive zone. And the Canucks are already missing their other first-pairing defenceman, Chris Tanev, with an ankle injury.

With only five defenceman for the final 50 minutes Saturday, including Luca Sbisa, who appeared to be labouring after sustaining an obvious and unpenalized cross-check from Blake Comeau in the first period, there was some shuffling on the blue-line.

Stecher played both the left and right sides and by the end of the second period was leading the Canucks in ice time at 15:25.

IN A WORD

HISTORY: Needing to latch on to anything positive, the Canucks were 10-2-2 in their last 14 games at the Pepsi Center. Henrik Sedin had 13 points in his previous 11 games against the Avalanche, which lost 3-1 in its only home game against Vancouver last season.

MARKDOWN:Jacob Markstrom was in goal for the Canucks after watching Ryan Miller play Friday’s 2-1 loss in Dallas. After a strong start to the year, Markstrom had posted a 3.89 goals-against average and .866 save rate in his previous four games.

ROADIES:Bo Horvat, who moved ahead of Daniel Sedin and became the Canucks’ leading scorer on Friday, had collected eight points in 10 road games this season. Teammate Brandon Sutter, however, had managed only two assists on the road.

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher kicks the puck away from Colorado Avalanche centre Matt Duchene (9) during the first period of Saturday’s game in Denver.Joe Mahoney/AP /
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BY THE NUMBERS

4: Number of games in a row the Canucks have opened the scoring, something they did only twice in their first 18 games. The Canucks were only 2-2-1 in games they led 1-0.

1997-98: The last time the Canucks were worse through the first quarter of a season. In the last 20 years, this 8-11-2 Canuck team that came to Denver was better only than the one that got Tom Renney fired — and Mike Keenan hired — in 1997, when Vancouver started 5-13-3.

19: The projected seasonal goal total for Canuck Loui Eriksson after he opened scoring on Saturday. Eriksson’s fifth goal came in his 22nd game, but it was also his fifth goal in nine games after going 13 games without scoring.

WHAT WE LEARNED

It wasn’t the first shot to the foot that injured Sven Baertschi Wednesday in Phoenix, but a second one late in the game that ruptured his skin. Blood spilled from Baertschi’s skate after the game. The cut required stitches, which burst the next day.

Desperate to play Friday in Dallas after scoring three points against the Coyotes in the game he dedicated to former Vancouver Giants captain Craig Cunningham, Baertschi tried skating in the morning but had to abort due to discomfort and inflammation.

Pain and the risk of infection kept the winger out of the lineup again against the Avalanche, but the Canucks are hopeful Baertschi will be able to play Tuesday when Vancouver opens a three-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild.

NEXT GAME

The Canucks return home from their road trip for a Tuesday date with the Minnesota Wild (7 p.m., SNP), who lost 4-3 in a shootout to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

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